“They Burned My Fatherland” – Tydale House

“They Burned My Fatherland”

When I was born Mother wrapped me in green leaves And placed me on her white laps Then muttered a hymn across my eyes To spill my blood for the land of my birth.

I sailed across the Niger with paddles of peace Into the creeks of the Delta,I sojourned with men of understanding We traded the rivulets in tranquil diplomacy And exchanged laughter for angered smiles In good hope for the land of my birth.

The sun was not unruly for a day’s toil Heavy hail had no heat of destroying our seeds The tools we had were no students of annihilation And our minds had no wars save those of the peace For we loved the land of our birth.

Then they came from the Near East With fiery might and untamed horses They marched through our streams And made way through our forests Because they had no love for the land of our birth.

From the noises they echoed We knew their mother took them away in tears Sons of Ishmael And tolls of the earth They brought their curses to the land of our birth.

They smashed our gods for the moon and stars And emptied grievous symphony for the Friday call Friends of the sword Enemies of the peace They invaded our yards Without our word, their cattle devoured our vegetables And laid bay the land of our birth.

In the bleak of yesterday They made sacred decisions to take our land for theirs That is why when we weren’t out for them They cast upon our roofs, sulfur And lighted flames to set us ablaze.

They killed the mother I knew Father’s head kept rolling down the hill And on the ground,it wrote a letter to me Never to trust the faith of the turban man For they were not the men of the land of my birth.

In the fumes of my people’s corpses And from the fragrance of their hopes that is gone Even into the beauty of the dreams that they couldn’t tell I knew from the horrors of those nights That they burned my fatherland.